The camp was home to thousands of displaced Palestinians who now are forced to find yet another safety location after the latest attacks.
Qatar joined other Arab nations in an emergency meeting of the Arab League Council in Cairo on Tuesday to deliberate on the latest Israeli aggression in the West Bank, where at least 12 people were killed in the biggest raid in decades.
Qatar’s Fahd Rashid Al Muraikhi, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Doha to the Arab League, led the the Gulf nation’s delegation during the discussion, which was summoned following an appeal from Palestine.
The meeting was marked by a passionate address from the Palestinian Permanent Representative to the Arab League, Ambassador Muhannad Al Aklouk, who depicted a grim picture of the conditions in Palestine, where ongoing Israeli violence has killed at least 12 since Monday.
In his plea to the Arab states, Al Aklouk urged the nations to undertake tangible measures to assist Palestinians in resisting the aggression, in an attempt to secure justice, freedom, and an end to what he described as an occupation and apartheid in the occupied Palestinian territories.
In the face of such adversity, Al Aklouk emphasised the role of political and diplomatic channels in the Arab League and other Arab institutions, urging them to support Palestine and protect its rights at international forums.
The Palestinian official also held the international community accountable for its silence and bias despite constant Israeli incursions against the native population.
He further pressed for swift and decisive action to bring to an end the Israeli occupation, hold Israel accountable for its crimes, and called on the UN Secretary-General to enforce UN resolutions relating to the protection of the Palestinian people.
He said this should include the provision of humanitarian aid, development support, reconstruction efforts, and capacity-building for the Palestinians.
Israel’s brutal attacks continue
Early on Wednesday, Israel declared an end to what has been labeled as its most significant assault on the Jenin refugee camp in over 20 years, following two days of unprecedented hostilities in the occupied West Bank.
The siege began on Monday and persisted until Wednesday morning, during which Israeli forces initiated an intensive ground and air operation on the camp, forcing out hundreds of families.
The deadly raid led to the killing of at least 12 Palestinians, including three teenagers, while dozens more have sustained injuries.
Reports from the Palestinian health ministry indicate that some of the wounded are in critical condition. Israeli forces barred ambulance crews from accessing certain areas to tend to the injured.
The Israeli military also announced it interrogated roughly 100 Palestinians during the operation. It said the raid involved 15 air strikes, carried out by helicopter gunships and reconnaissance drones, as well as a land invasion comprising 150 armoured military vehicles, including tanks and bulldozers, manned by a thousand ‘elite special forces’.
Snipers also swarmed the rooftops of Palestinian homes on the outskirts of the camp, which is situated in the heart of the West Bank city of Jenin.
Years of torture, unlawful killings
The last such brutal attack on the refugee camp, home to some 14,000 Palestinians, was reported back in April of 2002, during which 52 Palestinians were killed over a span of 10 days.
However, in the first half of this year alone, the Israeli army has launched five substantial raids on the camp. In June, three more Palestinians lost their lives after a missile fired from an Israeli helicopter gunship struck the camp – the first deployment of such a strategy since 2006.
The incident led Volker Turk, the United Nations’ human rights chief, to express his condemnation of Israel’s employment of “advanced military weaponry.”
Global condemnation
Israel’s latest round of aggression on thousands of Palestinians at the Jenin refugee camp has triggered global outcry and calls for accountability.
Arab nations from across the region have been quick to express their condemnation.
In its statement, Qatar described the Israeli assault as “horrific”.
“The State of Qatar condemns in the strongest terms the repetition of the Israeli occupation’s aggression against the city of Jenin and its camp, resulting in several deaths and injuries,” a foreign ministry statement read on Monday.
“It also considers this aggression a new episode in the ongoing series of attacks and horrific crimes against the defenceless Palestinian people,” it added.
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned “of the fading chances of peace and the expansion of the cycle of violence due to the continuous Israeli escalation in the Occupied Palestinian territories.”
The statement also called on the international community to” act urgently to provide the necessary protection to the Palestinian people, and oblige Israel to stop its flagrant violations of international law and respect the resolutions of international legitimacy.”
However, the Arab states condemn the aggression in Palestine regularly with little to no action.
